


Act 14: Stuck in the Hospital, Again

by writerx75



Series: Stuck [17]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Angst, Language, M/M, Serious Injuries, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:36:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4600092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerx75/pseuds/writerx75
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long after the Winter War, Ichigo and his friends begin to see arrancar appearing in the living world again, so Ichigo consults with the other shinigami to find out what's going on.  Will Ichigo be able to cooperate on the same battlefield with Renji now, when the stakes are higher?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Act 14: Stuck in the Hospital, Again

**Author's Note:**

> We're going to the land of lots of plot this time. I remember when I first started this series that I didn't expect this turn of events, but I was pretty happy with the way it went nonetheless, and I hope you will be, too. Don't worry, there's still smut, too! Also, I make reference (not really spoiler-level) to anime episodes 160 through 189-ish in this story.
> 
> Many thanks, as always, to my editor-in-chief, [gwoman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwoman/pseuds/gwoman) for her work on this one, especially since it was way longer than some of the others!
> 
> Note: This series was written before/during the Winter War arc, and I set this story at some vague point in the future when (I assumed) things have gone back (more or less) to normal. Canon continues to be violated, and will be for the remainder of these stories. : )
> 
> Disclaimers: I don't own these characters and don't make any money for these writings; I'm just creating these stories to entertain myself and (hopefully) you.
> 
> The people in this story are fictional, and so you might see them doing things that aren't strictly safe from a sexual standpoint. You are a real person, so please be safe when you play! If you want more information about how that all works, please look [here](http://www.scarleteen.com/article/sexuality/safe_sound_sexy_a_safer_sex_how_to) or here...or there are plenty of other sites with good info on the web, too, so check them out and be safe.
> 
> Oh, yes, one more thing. All of the people depicted (or referred to) in sexual situations in my stories are intended and considered to be by the author of the legal age of consent in any jurisdiction, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from. OK?

Ichigo was tired. Sure, he figured that between juggling college, the occasional hollow attack, a lover in another dimension, and a family in town he had every right to be tired, but this was different. He hadn't felt this sort of bone-deep weariness since the time he tried to manage school, home, and the Winter War.

He felt silly even admitting it to himself as he looked around and noted that any snow they'd had that year was now gone and the buds that had been appearing on the trees looked like they wouldn't have long to go before they started opening up. Like a lot of people, he usually got a burst of energy as the spring came, but this year he was exhausted instead.

It had all started several weeks ago when Chad had run into something one afternoon. Ichigo had been in class when he'd sensed the flares of reiatsu (something he'd tried hard to get better at in the past few years) that felt like Chad fighting something a bit more powerful than an average hollow. Figuring Chad could handle it until he could get there, he'd waited the few more minutes until the class had finished before he'd found somewhere to stash his body, then gone in shinigami form to investigate.

By the time he arrived it couldn't have been more than five minutes since the fight began, but the small hollow had already badly injured Chad, who was unsteady on his feet but still fighting. It wasn't until the creature turned towards him that Ichigo's stomach turned to ice as he realized that its eyes and part of its forehead were covered by a half-broken mask. What was left of the hollow mask gave the creature large, multifaceted eyes similar to a fly. The figure was dressed more simply than a lot of the previous arrancar Ichigo had met, with white hakama and a simple t-shirt and short jacket with a high collar. The collar was unable to hide the hollow hole that ran through the creature's neck and part of its collarbone, however.

As Ichigo moved between the creature and his friend, he watched as it raised its arms in front of it to reveal that each forearm had a blade attached to it. The blades had metal anchors that were strapped to the creature's arms. The sharpened parts curved out of the anchors near the arrancar's elbows to loop back up and run most of the length of its forearms, culminating in a tip that arched away from the creature's body to end in a point near its wrists. The points on the tips of the blades appeared wickedly sharp and were jagged at the ends, and one of the blades was bloodstained down most of its length.

Ichigo sensed Chad was trying to get up behind him and half-turned to say, “Chad, you've taken care of this sort of thing for me before. Now let me take my turn. Can you call Orihime?”

The taller man nodded, and Ichigo noted that it looked like Chad's eyes were already starting to look kind of glazed over, probably due to blood loss from the large, freely bleeding gash in his chest. A split-second later, however, Ichigo didn't have time to think about that, because he was occupied in blocking the insect-like creature's attacks. It really bothered Ichigo that this creature appeared to be an arrancar; its energy signature didn't seem anything like the other arrancar he'd sensed before. From the amount of reiatsu he sensed in the arrancar, it should have been a much lower-level hollow than it appeared.

As the fight progressed, Ichigo became very glad that the Flash Master had been one of his instructors because the insect-like hollow was so fast that he could barely keep up with it. He also realized that their styles and weapons were very mismatched; most regular shinigami would have had more trouble with the creature's weapons due to the fact that their long, thin swords would likely be trapped in the hollow's blades. Zangetsu, on the other hand, was in no danger of this. However, since his sword was so big, even as fast as he could flash step and strike was just a little bit too slow to hit the creature.

The fight had moved all over the street and was beginning to move into the sky as Ichigo started to wonder if he was going to have to go to bankai in order to win, but then he realized as he continued to watch the insect-like creature that its movements had a definite pattern between progression forward and retreat. The hollow had managed to tag him with a shallow cut on one forearm, but as the thing moved forward and caught him with a deeper slash near his waist, Ichigo chuckled. _I've got you now_ , he thought, watching as it predictably retreated a few steps, then started moving forward again.

Ichigo started his strike before it actually appeared, so the creature ended up slamming into Zangetsu with its own momentum as Ichigo swung a hard blow into the middle of its chest. Since the insect-like hollow had been preparing its own strike as it came towards Ichigo, Zangetsu crashed hard into the two blades, shattering both of them. When Ichigo pulled his sword back a split-second later, he noted that one of his opponent's arms had to be broken, hanging at an unnatural angle where there was no joint, and the other had been cut deeply, the blood now beginning to bloom across the white sleeve on its forearm.

He was going to leave it at that for the moment and see to Chad, not really caring if the creature escaped or not, when it opened its mouth and began gathering energy in a very familiar way.

“Oh _fuck_ no, you bastard,” Ichigo growled and lashed out with Zangetsu again. The beginnings of the cero blast dissipated as the creature's head fell to the pavement and then rolled a little farther, just out of range of the body that slumped down a moment later, then began to dissolve into tiny particles as a small breeze blew by.

Chad had passed out by the time Ichigo got to him. Swearing under his breath, Ichigo suddenly remembered that Orihime was on a class trip for the rest of the week as he put his friend's now bloody cell phone back in his pocket and stripped off his own top outer layer. Using the black fabric to bandage Chad as best as he could, Ichigo bit his lip the whole time as he carried Chad, flash-stepping to Uruhara's, trying not to let the dizziness that most likely stemmed from the freely bleeding wound in his side overcome him.

It had been a couple more days before Orihime had made it home, and Chad had been unconscious for most of that time. Ichigo, cursing at himself for becoming complacent, had talked to Urahara and started serious training again four days a week. For the two days during the week he only trained for a couple of hours, but the two weekend days saw him practicing at least half a day, often longer.

Oddly enough, he'd even been summoned to Soul Society for a briefing a few weeks after the incident, which was a first as far as he could remember. Fortunately, it had fallen on a Friday, so Ichigo had asked some classmates to borrow their notes for the two classes he'd be missing and skipped school for that day.

When he got to Soul Society, he’d ended up in a briefing along with members of the third division who'd been assigned posts in the living world. A technician from the twelfth division did most of the talking and explained that it seemed like some new kind of arrancar was coming into the living world, a comment that caused a few people in the room to start nodding, including Ichigo.

Their theory was that the Espada researcher Renji and Ishida had run into in Hueco Mundo, Szayel, hadn't been satisfied with the idea that Aizen alone could create more arrancar and had been working on a way to do it on his own. Since Szayel was almost certainly dead, the tech from the twelfth division concluded that it seemed someone had picked up on the research he'd done and was experimenting to see what they could come up with. The few corpses that they'd been able to examine all showed different levels of power development and reportedly demonstrated various levels of intelligence and self-awareness. Also, he mentioned, the couple that anyone was able to interrogate didn't say much, but they did admit whom they reported to. It was different in both cases.

The briefing concluded with some general advice about what to do if you encountered one of these arrancar (generally, call for immediate backup before doing anything else) and the gathering broke up. Ichigo reached the front of the room just as Renji finished talking to the technician from the twelfth, and he couldn't help meeting the redhead's small grin with one of his own.

“I was just going back to my office,” Renji said, lifting an eyebrow. “You want to walk along?”

They discussed fairly inconsequential things until they arrived at the redhead's office. Ichigo noticed that Renji closed the door behind them when they went in, and then noted how seriously his lover was looking at him.

“Look, Ichigo, what I'm about to tell you is not only speculation, but you have to keep it completely secret, all right?” As he listened to Renji, Ichigo felt a chill run through him. The fierce, grave look on the redhead's face made him understand yet again why they'd made him a captain.

“Of course,” Ichigo replied and then just listened, knowing he was about to hear something he probably didn't want to.

“They're not sure why we've only started to see these new arrancar in the past few weeks, but I wanted to get everyone out in the field back so that we could warn them. The most likely theory put forward by the researchers is that there's not only one source for these arrancar. The names that were given as commanders by the ones that were captured were familiar. One of them was Grimmjow.” Renji paused then and looked at Ichigo squarely for a second, waiting to see his reaction.

Ichigo shrugged and gazed back at the redhead. “That doesn't surprise me. I never figured he was dead, but I never really figured I'd see him again, either.”

Renji shook his head. “At this rate, you might. Anyway, the rest of the theory is that the few remaining powerful Espada have been amassing armies, experimenting with changing ordinary hollows into arrancar. The research teams here think this because it seems like each time they see a new arrancar it seems a little better than the last. They also theorize that we'll likely start seeing more and more of these, that the commanders are letting their new subordinates into the living world to gather power, that is, souls. Also, they probably want to see how their new arrancar stack up against shinigami. The big brains from the twelfth figure whoever's left of the most powerful arrancar Aizen created are gearing up for a civil war to see who's going to be the next ruler of Hueco Mundo.”

The redhead sat down behind his desk as he finished. Ichigo noticed for the first time that he looked tired in a way he'd never seen his lover before.

“So, when are you going to get done here?” Ichigo asked, looking over at Renji a little mischievously.

Renji put both hands to his face for a moment, his fingertips running across his forehead as he brought his hands back to the desk again and looked back up at Ichigo. “I was kind of hoping I could take the rest of the afternoon off, but with the stack of paperwork I have to finish, I'm lucky if I'll be out of here by nightfall. Kira volunteered to go with the group relieving the people we had to bring in from the living world, so I didn't get as far as I wanted to.”

“I bet between the two of us we could finish a lot sooner,” Ichigo said, pulling a chair up to sit at the side of the redhead's desk. “You forget all the time I spent doing paperwork while I was here last summer.”

“You sure about that?” Renji asked as he slowly let a smile take over his features. “It'll be kind of boring,” he continued, dividing the stack and setting half in front of Ichigo.

“Yeah, well, I figure there's not much point going back home right now, not since I've got the next couple of days off,” Ichigo replied, letting his glance slide in Renji's direction. When the redhead did nothing but smirk in response, Ichigo continued, “But, I guess you knew that. Don't worry, though, I'll let you make it up to me later.”

“More work and less talk if you ever want to get out of here,” the redhead responded, his smirk getting a little wider.

“Well, give me a brush then, you idiot,” Ichigo grumbled, trying to scowl instead of grin in response.

It had been a busy weekend. Some of it Renji had had to work through and for part of that time Ichigo had assisted. He'd also spent some time catching up with Rukia and his other friends in Soul Society, but mostly he found himself waiting for the redhead to rejoin him. They hadn't gone out at all that weekend as he'd anticipated they would once they were both free. Instead they'd gone back to Renji's quarters and had alternated between napping, waking up intertwined in the bed, and slowly driving each other crazy.

Ichigo hadn't been able to admit it to himself at the time, but it had really bothered him to see his lover look so tired and worried when he'd arrived in Soul Society, and somehow it made him feel better when he could taste Renji, as if licking and sucking all of those tattoos would be able to take that awful look off the redhead's face. Renji, for his part, had listened way too quietly when Ichigo had related the story of his and Chad's fight with the arrancar, and Ichigo noticed that the redhead seemed to want to touch every inch of him that weekend, being especially careful with the new scar that wound around his waist from the small of his back to his belly.

The most vivid memory he had of that time was of lying on his belly sleeping and being awakened by the feeling of teasingly soft kisses moving down his spine. He stirred and opened his eyes to find that it was dark, but he could see Renji behind him as he turned his head to look over his shoulder, and Ichigo felt his stomach tighten at the sight of his lover, hair down and eyes dark, tattoos dimly highlighted by the sparse moonlight coming through the shutters. The redhead had teased him with soft touches and kisses everywhere over his exposed skin until Ichigo was shaking with need, spreading his legs and demanding that Renji fuck him. Renji had chuckled in his ear and then suddenly there were two slicked fingers sliding into him and Ichigo had to bite the pillow to try to muffle his long groan in response. Renji was merciless, the rhythm of his fingers making Ichigo squirm and the way he caressed that spot making the younger man moan. But Ichigo thought it was the way the redhead leaned over him, long hair tickling Ichigo's neck, and the words that Renji whispered in his ear that sent him violently over the edge. And Renji hadn't stopped telling Ichigo what else he planned to do to drive him crazy as the redhead slicked up his cock and slowly slid it in. And even though it hadn't been all that long since the last time he came, Ichigo felt the heat in his guts climbing higher and higher and finally found himself trying not to howl and being mostly unsuccessful as the feeling of Renji pounding into him got him to come again.

Shaking his head, Ichigo realized he'd stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and had been standing there for a little while now as people made their way around him. But, as he started walking again, Ichigo realized that what had probably snapped him out of his reverie was his soul pager going off.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath as he began trying to sense what was going on and look for someplace to hide his body all at once.

He spotted a neatly trimmed hedge around the side of one of the office buildings he was passing, so he ducked around the corner, jumped behind the bushes when no one seemed to be looking, and hit himself in the chest with his substitute badge. As his body fell behind the vegetation, Ichigo suddenly felt it. There seemed to be three arrancar and a couple of captain-level shinigami fighting them, so Ichigo flash-stepped in that direction.

His heart nearly stopped as he arrived in the tiny park where the group was fighting. Renji was facing off with two opponents and Kira was fighting with the third. The redhead was standing firm, but he had definitely paid a price for it. He was covered with a number of cuts on his arms and torso that all seemed to be dripping with blood. Still, he grinned in his usual greeting as he saw Ichigo.

“I was wondering when you were going to get here,” Renji said and then gestured to the arrancar nearest to Ichigo. “Why don't you take that one? He hasn't really started to attack much.”

“Glad you saved one for me,” Ichigo heard his voice reply and he wondered how he'd managed to say anything at all. His heart seemed to remain very still within him, and it was screaming at him to get Renji out of there.

Still, since he knew that Renji was likely to kill him if treated like that, and because something needed to be done about the arrancar, Ichigo sized his opponent up. The man was about a head shorter than him with a large mustache and long dark hair tied back in a low ponytail. His mask had broken so that one side of his face was partially covered in an arc that ran from his forehead, around his eye, down his cheekbone and the middle of one cheek. The arrancar’s eyes were dark and determined as he faced Ichigo, and the substitute shinigami widened his stance a little, ready for anything.

The arrancar wasn’t as fast as the last one he’d faced, and Ichigo had no problem keeping up with his movements. Ichigo was able to follow and block his quick steps and his blade, which was a slim, not particularly flexible rapier-like weapon. Out of the corner of his eye he’d been able to see that Kira had moved to his shikai form and that Renji continued to battle the large arrancar he’d faced off with.

The quick footwork and agile dodging tactics Ichigo's opponent was using were causing the two of them to move all over the park, and Ichigo lost track of what was going on with his companions. The substitute shinigami began to notice that it seemed like something was rushing by him when the arrancar’s strikes hit close to him, and he was glad that he’d been able to avoid any direct hits. However, he began to notice that his opponent’s strikes were beginning to be powerful enough to cause damage to nearby cars, trees, and park benches.

Finally, they paused at one point as both the arrancar and Ichigo took a short breath and looked to their companions. Kira was in the middle of delivering his final blow to his opponent while Renji had already defeated the giant arrancar he’d fought. Ichigo felt like his heart had been squeezed by a huge fist as he saw Renji down on one knee and bleeding badly enough that there was a small pool of blood where he knelt and stray droplets in the area surrounding him.

“Kira,” Ichigo called out as he watched his opponent begin to approach him again, “you and Renji get out of here. I’ll take care of this guy, but he has some sort of distance attack and I don’t want anyone else to get caught in the blast.”

“Understood,” Kira replied, and Ichigo could also hear Renji cursing angrily at him and refusing before the sound disappeared.

Blocking the arrancar’s latest rush, Ichigo chanced a look to the side to see that they’d gone. He quietly sighed with relief as he turned back to his opponent. Bringing Zangetsu up to block another attack, Ichigo found himself eye to eye with the arrancar.

“You shouldn't have sent your friends away, shinigami,” he hissed at Ichigo. “You would have needed their help if you wanted to defeat me.”

Raising an eyebrow as he simultaneously pushed and slashed forward to give himself some room, Ichigo replied, “Oh, you can talk. The last one of you I fought didn't seem like it could actually say anything. So, who do you work for?”

“As if I'd tell you,” the arrancar said with a sneer. “You're not even a captain. Who are you, anyway?”

“Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute shinigami,” he replied. “And who are you?”

To Ichigo's surprise, the arrancar's eyes widened and he didn't reply. Instead, he began to attack Ichigo furiously. The substitute could see his opponent's reiatsu flare as he tried to overwhelm Ichigo with pointed stabbing attacks. Because of Ichigo's speed and Zangetsu's size, however, it was easy enough to avoid the arrancar's blows, but as they both pulled back for a moment to breathe, Ichigo found himself getting angry. He couldn't keep the picture out of his mind of Renji exhausted, in a pool of his own blood, and continuing to fight this person instead of finding out how the redhead was doing seemed more and more like a waste of time.

Ichigo began to gather his own reiatsu then, centering it with a wild yell before charging his opponent. He had seen the arrancar begin to do the same thing, but Ichigo hadn't waited for his opponent to finish, instead rushing in to attack.

There was a moment of stillness as the two of them stood face to face, not far from each other. Then the arrancar fell to his knees and finally to one side as a deep slash from shoulder to waist began to bleed profusely. He did manage to look up at Ichigo for a moment before his eyes fluttered shut, however.

“My name...will not be remembered...but Grimmjow-sama hasn't forgotten about you,” he breathed, then coughed once before he was still.

Ichigo swore as he straightened up, wishing he'd been able to get more information, then gasped as a wave of pain rolled through him that was so strong and immediate he nearly lost consciousness. As it subsided somewhat, Ichigo thought the last few moments of the fight through and realized that the arrancar had actually tagged him on one shoulder as he'd slashed it through. When he gingerly slid his robes back on that shoulder, he found a shallow stab wound about the size of a fingertip. But his back and shoulder on that side had begun to ache as if he'd been beaten for an hour by several large people.

Shaking his head as if he could shake the pain off, Ichigo headed for Urahara's shop. He had some trouble flash-stepping there because he got dizzy at a couple points, but he finally arrived and rushed in to find the shop keeper. Ichigo was pacing in the little room by the time Urahara arrived. The substitute shinigami looked at the man in some surprise as he came into the room in a loose yukata with bandages all around his torso.

“What happened?” Ichigo asked, also realizing that Urahara looked drawn and older than he'd ever seen him before.

“Ah, Kurosaki-san, you're as observant as ever,” Urahara replied, but even the tone he used was more weary than his usual knowing lilt. “There was...an accident in the laboratory yesterday and I'm still recovering. I'll be back to my usual self in a couple of days. Is there anything I can do for you, however? It looks as if you just came from a battle,” he said, eyeing Ichigo's now dirty and torn shihakusho.

Ichigo shook his head, noting the slight dizziness as he did. “I'm fine, really, but Renji was badly injured in the fight. I want to ask you to create a gate so I can go to Soul Society and see how he is.”

Urahara actually winced as he shook his head. “Normally, I'd be glad to do that for you, Kurosaki-san, but the...accident left me temporarily without the power to create one. Yoruichi-sama is the only other one who could probably help, but I believe she's in Soul Society now. I alerted her to the situation yesterday, but I have yet to hear back from her-”

“So you can still communicate with someone in Soul Society?” Ichigo interrupted the shopkeeper, fixing the other man with a piercing stare.

Urahara raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I should be able to. Was there a message you wanted to send?”

Ichigo scrawled something on a piece of paper and handed it to the shop keeper. “Please, send this out as soon as you can,” he requested and then turned to go.

“Kurosaki-san,” Urahara replied, stepping forward to put a hand on the substitute's arm, “are you sure you're all right to go anywhere? You don’t look all that well. And where did you leave your body?”

He briefly described to Urahara where it was, but shook the other man's hand off. “Really, I'm fine. I've got to go. Please, just send the message as soon as you can.”

The blonde didn't say anything in return as he met Ichigo's gaze, just nodded and limped off back into the shop. It wasn't long before Ichigo found himself out by the river, waiting. He wasn't sure how long it would take or even if his idea would work. Now that he was alone, however, with the sounds of the city a bit hushed as they always were along the water like this, the world seemed to fall away from Ichigo and he felt as if he were left standing at the edge of a very long fall into a fathomless darkness.

He began to pace, to try to get his mind to focus on something else, but every step almost seemed to be a prayer. _Please be OK, Renji. Fuck, I've got to see him._ He found himself making mental deals with no one, suddenly ready to throw away every possession, every accomplishment, and every thought and desire in order to see the redhead again even for a minute and know that he was all right.

After a while he stopped as a fit of coughing ripped through him. When he brought his hand away from his face, he had a handful of blood.

“Fuck,” Ichigo mumbled, wiping his hand off on his thigh and cleaning his mouth with his sleeve, suddenly thankful that his uniform was black. He continued to pace as the sun slid down the sky, not noticing that his movement was becoming more of a stagger than a walk. Finally, after a while, Ichigo just stood there, watching as the sun started to set, cursing to himself under his breath. “Fuck, she’s not going to come, fuck-“

Something caused him to turn his head then, and he let out a brief sigh as he watched a gate materialize nearby. To his surprise, however, about a dozen people started to file through as it opened. Ichigo just watched as they spread out, all of them centered around one figure in the middle. She was wearing an elaborate sky blue kimono with a pattern of fish swimming on it, and her blonde hair was done up with ornamental hair sticks that had tiny golden cylinders hanging from the ends, chiming as she moved.

The knot of people approached where Ichigo was standing, and opened to either side of him as the woman in the kimono stepped forward. She schooled her features into a staged look of surprise, but her mischievous smile gave her away.

“Kurosaki-kun! How interesting that we would find you here. We heard that there was going to be a lovely sunset in the living world today, so we just had to come to see it.”

“Lurichiyo?” Ichigo asked as he looked into the young woman’s green eyes, still not completely sure it was her. He’d only seen her once or twice after the adventures when they'd met initially and not at all for about the past five years. Ichigo had been told that it wasn’t proper for someone of her rank to spend time with a common shinigami, and a substitute at that, the last time he’d tried to see her.

Despite the obvious disapproval of the nearby knot of bodyguards, she leaned in to speak into Ichigo’s ear. “I am aware that one of the reasons I was able to get where I am today is because of you, but I never thought I’d have a chance to repay my debt. I can’t assist you, of course, but if someone manages to slip through the gate while we’re watching the sunset, how could it be helped?”

She was smiling as she straightened up, and it struck Ichigo then, as her skin and hair were gilded further by the light of the setting sun, just how lovely she’d become. “Thanks, Lurichiyo,” he said, his throat feeling suddenly clogged. He wanted to say more, but all he could manage was to look back at her for a moment longer.

Her expression was suddenly serious as she put a hand on his arm. “No need to thank me. I hope Renji is all right.”

As she stepped back, Ichigo nodded at Enryuu and Kenryuu, then flash-stepped through the gate. The streets of Soul Society passed in a blur, but he found he actually had to take breaks in order to get where he wanted to go. He was dizzy and tired, and the coughing continued to get worse. By the time he reached the fourth division, Ichigo was very unsteady on his feet.

He stumbled through the front and confronted the shinigami on duty, demanding to see Renji. The man just stared at him, so he began wandering down the hall, looking into the doors he passed. He would find Renji himself if no one would help. Someone else came and tried to stop him, but he insisted that he needed to see Renji and yanked his arm away, continuing to stumble down the hall. Finally, he saw Unohana-taicho coming towards him.

“Where’s Renji?” Ichigo asked. It was meant to come out as a demand, but the question ended up so slurred that he could hardly understand it himself. Then, he was racked by another bout of coughing. He tried to contain it, but the blood sprayed from behind his fingers to stripe the captain’s haori. Ichigo found himself thinking as his eyes began to close and he started to fall backwards that she would probably be angry about that later.  
_________________________________________

It must be very bright wherever he was now, Ichigo was thinking, because he could see the light even with his eyes closed. After a while, he forced his eyelids to blink but then as his eyes finally opened, he couldn't see due to the brilliant sunlight. Jerkily, his arm came up to his face, awkwardly shielding his sight from the glare.

As soon as he could see again, Ichigo's breath caught as he saw Renji turn towards him, obviously alerted that he was awake due to his movements. He knew Renji was saying something to him, but he was too focused on all of the bandages on the redhead's torso and arm to hear him. But, when Ichigo finally fixed his gaze on Renji's face, he couldn't suppress the flood of relief that ran through him as he realized that the redhead was all right.

“Renji,” he finally managed to croak out from his dry throat, and the redhead stopped what he was saying for a moment, and then sighed.

“Ichigo, have you been paying attention to anything I said? You can't just act like that when you're out of your body-”

“Renji,” Ichigo called again, and this time the intensity of his voice made Renji stop. “Just...come over here.”

Ichigo was overcome with the need to touch the redhead, to make completely certain that he was all right. Renji crossed the room and sat a little uncertainly on the edge of Ichigo's bed, but then shifted as the smaller man pulled the redhead into bed with him. The moment he put his hand on his lover, Ichigo's chest tightened and he couldn't stop himself from wrapping an arm around Renji and holding on as tightly as he could.

After a moment, Ichigo could feel Renji shift to look him in the eye, but he kept his eyelids shut and his face partially buried in the redhead's shoulder. Renji sighed then, seeming to decide to speak anyway.

“Ichigo,” he said softly, “you nearly died, you know. You need to be more careful because if you die out of your body, well, it'll be just like what would happen to any other shinigami.”

Ichigo's eyes squeezed more tightly shut. “I know but...I didn't know what happened to you, Renji. The last time I saw you...you...I had to make sure you were OK.”

He'd finished in a rush, still unable to force his eyes open to see Renji's reaction, but he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as he felt one of the redhead's arms go around him. “I shouldn't have worried you, Ichi, but you have to take care of yourself, too, OK?”

“All right, all right,” Ichigo said, his eyes still clamped shut, feeling the moisture behind those lids and knowing that he would embarrass himself if he blinked at all right now. He focused instead on trying to calm his crazily high heart rate and panicked breathing.

Instead, his heart seemed to start to thump even more erratically as he took a deep breath and Renji's scent flooded his nostrils. The feeling of the redhead's fingers moving up his back sent a shudder down his spine, and he could feel the heat in him rising in a crazy upward spiral. He took another deep breath to try to steady himself, but he couldn't help the little noise he made as he let it out, because it just reminded him that all he could feel, all he could smell was Renji, and he couldn't help wanting more.

Ichigo could feel the redhead shift in the bed then, and he knew that the other man was trying to look him in the eye again. “Are you OK, Ichigo? Should I move?”

Finally opening his eyes in his surprise, Ichigo tightened his arm around Renji. “No, don't go,” he replied, and even as he did, he saw Renji's expression change from concern to something a little darker. The redhead smiled a little as he continued to look at Ichigo. “What's up, Ichi?”

The smaller man looked away again when he felt the blush start to heat up his cheeks. _What’s with me, anyway?_ Surely other people would have stepped back from nearly dying and had a more noble reaction to it than wanting their lover so badly they could taste it, Ichigo found himself thinking. _Fuck it_ , he finally concluded, and looked back into Renji's eyes.

“I want,” Ichigo began, then faltered as he tried to figure out how to say it until he just rushed ahead to spit it out, regardless of how it sounded. “Fuck, Renji, I want to feel like I'm alive again, not half-dead. I want you. I need you to-”

He was cut off by Renji's lips on his own, and Ichigo couldn't hold back the low moan in his throat as the redhead kissed him deep and slow. Ichigo slid up tighter against Renji then, grinding against him. The redhead pulled back a bit and gazed at Ichigo and the smaller man shivered at that dark look.

“I know what you want, and I sure as hell want it too, but I'm not sure either one of us is up to it, and this is definitely not the place,” Renji said with a dark chuckle as Ichigo groaned quietly. “But,” he continued as he snaked his hand into Ichigo's loosely tied yukata, “that doesn't mean we can't do anything. You've just got to make sure you're quiet enough so that no one comes busting in here wondering what's going on. Because I'm going to make you come hard enough to forget about all of this, at least for a little while.”

Renji's voice was a hot murmur against Ichigo's ear, and he gasped as he felt a rush of heat tearing through him as the redhead's lips and teeth slid along his neck. He reached out for Renji, his hand moving up his lover's thigh, but he shuddered as Renji's hand left his cock to place his arm back by his side.

“Relax, Ichigo. This is just for you right now,” Renji said softly, his breath tickling Ichigo's ear. “I'd rather wait until I can get you into my bed. I want to get you so hard before we really even get going. I want to take you in my mouth and suck you until you're demanding that I fuck you and your cock is twitching. And then I want to spread your strong thighs and lick that sweet hole of yours until you're sweating and swearing and my tongue is deep in you. You'll be begging me to fuck you then, and you know I will.”

Ichigo was squirming now, lying on his side facing Renji still and trying to get comfortable but not fall over. The feel of the redhead's big hand on his cock was so good he felt almost dizzy with it, and he knew he wasn't going to last very long, especially not when Renji moved to suck, then bite his neck.

“But I know that when I start working my fingers into you to get you ready for what you're moaning for, that I won't be able to stop looking at your cock. You'll be so fucking hard by then, and seeing you all slicked up with your own pre-come will only make me think about sliding your dick inside me for a long hard ride. But I know you'd kill me if I made you wait any more, so instead I'll work my cock into your tight ass and listen to those sexy sounds you always make.”

Ichigo had his face buried in Renji's shoulder again, but this time it was to help muffle any sound he might make. He could see the sly smile on the redhead's face out of the corner of his eye, and he struggled to keep himself from making the noises he knew he'd be making if they were anywhere more private. Usually, Ichigo was the type of person to pride himself on his self-control, but whenever he was having sex with Renji, it always seemed to be quickly thrown out the window. Somehow, the energy between the two of them burned so hot he just couldn't help himself.

“Oh, I'd do my best to take a while to get you off,” Renji continued, his voice so deep and compelling in Ichigo's ear that it was all the younger man could do not to whimper in response. “But, you'd be so worked up by then that it probably wouldn't take too long before I could get you to come. And, fuck, I'd have to watch because that look you get on your face when you do is so fucking hot.”

He grinned at Ichigo then, and the smaller man could feel the warmth of a blush coloring his cheeks just before the redhead leaned in to kiss him. The strong hand around his cock had started moving faster and it just made Ichigo squirm and bite his lip as he tried not to moan like he desperately wanted to. Renji had badgered Ichigo into jacking off for him a number of times after they had first gotten together, and Ichigo had realized there had been a reason why as time went by. The redhead had learned everything he liked by now and the feeling of his lover's hand on his cock, rather than his own, was causing Ichigo to reach the edge much faster than usual.

Renji pulled back from the kiss to nuzzle near to Ichigo's ear again. “Oh, I wouldn't stop then, though. I'd slow down so that I could fuck you longer, so that when your eyes started to focus again after you came you'd feel me moving inside you, hitting that spot and making you squirm. I'd try to keep going until you started to get hard again, even though I know I'd have a hard time not coming inside you, because as much I like doing that, you like it even more.”

Ichigo tried to swallow his moan, but he wasn't able to control the way his cock twitched in Renji's hand, and he could see the redhead smirking in response. He wasn't able to care much about it, though, because what Renji was doing had started to feel so good that he'd had to slide one of his legs back so that he'd be able to thrust into the redhead's hand. His breath was just rough panting now, and the heat was building up so quickly that he felt almost overwhelmed by it.

“Once I knew you were ready, I'd try to get myself ready for you, but you'd be impatient by then,” Renji continued, his words causing the breath to almost get stuck in Ichigo's throat altogether. “You'd slide out from underneath me and you'd be behind me then, and I know I'd have to stop myself from shouting once you slicked everything up and slid a couple of those long fingers of yours into me.”

_Fuck yes_ was about all Ichigo had been able to think, the image of finger-fucking Renji spiking the heat in his blood up even higher. He tried not to, but he moaned as he thrust his hips forward, meeting Renji's hand.

“Oh, yeah, that's it. That's exactly what you'd want after a few moments. I know you'd try to be patient, try to take it slowly, but I'd be too worked up by then and I'd push back and take all of you. Fuck, it makes me want you in me right now, Ichi.”

Ichigo had been approaching the edge, knowing he was going to come soon, but after hearing that it was almost like he was thrown over it. Everything disappeared in the white haze; he couldn't even feel Renji's back under his fingertips as he'd been able to a second before.

The world came back into focus after a little while, and he couldn't help but smile like an idiot when the first thing he saw was Renji's face. A sly grin replaced the look of concern the redhead had worn as his gaze flicked up and down his lover's body.

“Better now?” the redhead asked, his grin widening.

Shrugging with his free shoulder, Ichigo mentally did an inventory to try to answer the question. “I guess. I still kind of feel like someone beat on my back with a hammer, though.”

“Well, they told me to tell you not to try lying on your back for probably another week or so, in case you woke up before someone got here,” Renji said, his expression becoming more serious. “When I described what I'd seen of the guy you were fighting, and the kind of damage he was doing to everything around us, I was told that they thought he had some kind of supersonic attack. They figured he used sound waves out of human hearing range that he was able to concentrate at the tip of his blade, and then when he stabbed something, the waves would spread out in all directions from that point and try to vibrate apart whatever it was they hit.”

Ichigo just stared at Renji for a moment, letting the idea sink in. Finally, Renji nodded in response to the look of realization he saw in the smaller man's eyes.

“Yeah, you keep some pretty important things in your chest, like your heart and lungs, Ichi,” Renji continued, suddenly looking very grim. “Fuck, I wanted to help you. I tried to get Kira to go back because I didn't have enough reiatsu of my own left by then, but he just dragged me here instead and they knocked me out. When I woke up I was trying to figure out how to get out of here without Unohana-taicho finding out, but then they brought you in. By the time you finally got here, they weren't sure they could save you. They worked on you for hours. What the hell took you so long to get here, anyway?”

Sighing, Ichigo explained what had happened. Renji shook his head angrily and swore.

“Don't ever fucking send me away like that again, Ichigo,” the redhead said then, and his voice was both even and harsher than Ichigo had ever heard it. “Do you think it's any easier for me to see you in battle? To see you hurt? I trust that you'll be able to come through OK, though, because you've done it so many times before. I need you to trust me like that. When we're together, we should be able to have each others' back. How the hell can I do that when you try to get rid of me?”

Squirming as he listened, Ichigo was suddenly overwhelmed by what he was feeling again. Just the idea of losing Renji was almost unbearable, and he didn't know how to explain it, or how to explain what he'd done. At that moment, however, he felt Renji's hand under his chin and he was forced to look into the redhead's eyes.

“Can you just let me be there for you?” he asked. “You know whatever's out there we can handle better together.”

And suddenly, Ichigo didn't need to explain, because somehow what Renji had said seemed to cover it all. “Yeah,” he replied nervously, clearing his throat, “yeah, sure. Sorry.”

The last word was barely audible, but Ichigo could see from Renji's small smile that he'd heard it.

“Why don't you try to get some more sleep?” the redhead said as he wrapped his arm back around Ichigo. “I'll be here when you wake up.”

Ichigo nodded as his eyes seemed to close by themselves. As he drifted off, he couldn't help but smile a little since he was feeling more content than he had in a very long time, with Renji’s arm around him and his head on the redhead’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments about what you liked and what you thought could be improved would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!
> 
> -WriterX


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